Everything indicates that the Omicron variant is going to become the hegemon of SARS-CoV-2 in many countries and is already beginning to displace the Delta, despite having been circulating for a short time. From the WHO they have already warned that it is expanding at a worrying speed. In London, for example, it already represents 40% of cases and the data is doubling almost daily.
José Antonio López Guerrero, researcher and director of Scientific Culture at the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center, has described the Omicron variant as the “little Frankestein” or “monster”, after having accumulated more than 30 surprising mutations.
On November 24, the Omicron variant was notified for the first time
Since the WHO have expressed, whose scientific name is B.1.1.529 presents a large number of mutations, some of which are worrisome. To this end, they have said that “initial evidence indicates that the risk of being reinfected by this variant is greater than with other worrisome variants and, apparently, the number of cases it causes is increasing in almost all South African provinces. At the moment, PCR tests are used to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 and continue to detect this variant ”.
It was on November 24 when the WHO notified, for the first time, this variant from South Africa. On its origin, there are several hypotheses that are considered. Some point to a possible homologous recombination, which means that, in the same person, several variants have coincided and changes of genetic material have been generated in the virus.
Another theory explains that SAR-CoV-2 could have passed through an animal reservoir where these mutations could be combined. Although also another theory that points to the fact that the virus has been lodged, for a long time, in an immunosuppressed person, that in South Africa there are many due to HIV, and where to emerge with these mutations.
The complete vaccination schedule is still effective
Regarding how vaccines affect the Omicron variant, there are studies that endorse that the complete vaccination schedule continues to be effective so as not to invalidate the vaccination. There is talk of a 60-70% effectiveness, a drop of about 20 points, although this means that the vaccine is still effective.
Another characteristic of Ómicron, according to preliminary scientific work, is that it seems that the intensity of the clinic has decreased, that is, the symptoms of patients who contract COVID19 with the Ómicron variant are milder. As López Guerreo has warned, “it seems that it is less virulent a priori per capita, that is, less lethal per infected person; but, logically, a virus with less lethality per infected person, if we multiply it by millions of people, since it has a greater dispersal capacity, it becomes a more deadly virus per million inhabitants, so even though it causes in very few clinical damage, by expanding a lot there may always be a greater number of people with clinical damage ”.